


By the Light of the Moon

by overworkedunderwhelmed



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Post-Episode: s03 Chat Blanc, Post-Partial Reveal, a touch of mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27652249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overworkedunderwhelmed/pseuds/overworkedunderwhelmed
Summary: After nights of restlessly tossing and turning, Marinette knew something didn't feel right.  Try as she might, she couldn't place it.Not until she pieced together all of the secrets.  Starting with what she found beneath the light of the moon.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 33
Kudos: 98





	By the Light of the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to marvelousmsmol for beta reading!

Marinette bit her lip. Despite her best efforts and being tucked into her loft bed in her comfiest pajamas, her eyes wouldn’t stay closed. 

This past hour, she’d spent more time rolling from side to side. She was more than comfortable, buried up to her neck in the familiar, well worn blanket that was fresh from the laundry only the day prior.

In the end, she settled for watching the cross-hatched shadows cast by her window panes knit slowly shifting patterns across her pink rug.

Her mind wouldn’t settle down. 

It had been many nights now that Marinette tossed and turned, hardly able to sleep. It wasn’t exactly unusual for her to worry. Nor was it uncommon for her to get swept up in a project, working well into the evening.

Marinette exhaled sharply, blowing her bangs wild. 

She couldn’t put her finger on it. 

Something just _felt_ off.

And, yet. Everything was the same as it always was...

Just like any other day, she got up and went to school. If she was being honest, sometimes she was a little _too_ focused on a project and kept snoozing her alarm until her Mother called up the stairs with one, final five-minute warning. She made sure she was sprinting towards school just in time to sit in her seat just before the first class each day.

Sure, maybe this year was a little easier than the last. With Alya at her side, Chloe didn’t get away with giving her nearly as much grief as she had for several years before.

Alya had come over again earlier, working on another class project. Her Mom had made a little extra supper, so she and Alya could both dine up in her room until the presentation was done. 

And, okay, maybe a _little_ longer, too.

It had been fun chatting, even if it didn’t last nearly long enough.

She just felt...strangely bored. Restless, even.

She just couldn’t understand _why_.

In the end, it was the restlessness that won out.

With a sigh, Marinette crawled down to the other end of the bed. If she wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep soon, then at least she could enjoy the view from her balcony. Tugging the comforter from her bed and draping it over her shoulders, she scaled the ladder the last few steps up.

Her fingers struggled slightly with the chilly handle. She tugged the edge of her sleeve down using it like a glove over her hand as she pressed the hatch door open with the faintest creak. It was probably much too cold to cuddle up on the lounger for long, but even a few minutes would probably help to provide enough inspiration to distract herself to sleep.

As she stepped the final few steps, Marinette didn’t dare to breathe. Eyes widening, her fingers tightened their grip on her comforter. 

There was _something_ up here with her. 

For a moment, the pale form had seemed little more than phantom, brought into existence by a trick of the moonlight and not nearly enough sleep.

Desperately, Marinette blinked. And then blinked again, for good measure. Her heart took off at a breakneck pace, racing off goodness only knows where.

Apparently, her eyes were truly _not_ deceiving her. There really _was_ a cat -- an impossibly large one, with fur so white it almost shone under the glow of her string of fairy lights and the gaze of the moon.

Its nose dipping down just over the edge of the lounger. 

The biggest cat for sure she’d ever seen -- outside of a zoo at least.

Instinctively, she shivered. Was it just the chill of the late autumn air or a more instinctive fear of the unknown predator quietly napping atop her lounger?

Its downy ears twitched as she drew the covers more firmly around herself, weighing just what to do. 

Her sensible half debated whether she could sneak back down to the safety of her room, albeit ten times more awake than she had been only a few minutes ago.

Anxious, she tugged the comforter around her more tightly. Aside from a plant or two, there was hardly much of anything else up here she could use to ward the cat off with little warning. Besides, could she really even sneak back downstairs undetected? It might follow her back down, after all.

In the end, curiosity won out, spurred on by the pouting memory of a far tinier version of herself who had long been denied the companionship of a pet because of the bakery downstairs. 

Her fingers practically itched to reach out and pet its sleek fur, to find out if it was nearly half as soft as she thought.

To her surprise, the white cat’s stunning ice blue eyes had slipped open.

Motionless, the cat stared back at her, as if fairly daring _her_ to move.

Inhaling deeply, Marinette reached out her hand, hesitantly. Giving the creature ample room to signal its displeasure or to dart away if she dared to get too close.

Instead, the cat just watched, with eyes that seemed just as wide and curious as her own.

Ever so slowly, she inched closer, feigning the courage to pretend like her own muscles were not tensed and ready to flee somehow, should it come to that.

Finally, her fingers were close enough to gently slide over its fur. 

The cat's muscles relaxed beneath her fingers, stretching lazily..

With a smile, she grew a little more daring, reaching up to carefully pat the space between its ears.

One paw twitched on reflex, revealing a bit of something she couldn’t quite make out it had clearly trapped beneath a single paw. It was hard to make out between the dim light of the evening, but whatever it had captured was nearly as pale as the cat itself.

“Now…” Marinette murmured as she finally allowed herself to breathe. Settling down beside the on the edge of the lounger, she continued to pet the cat’s pale fur as long as it would let her. “How did you even manage to get up here, Kitty?”

**Author's Note:**

> When the idea strikes and you just can't leave it alone...


End file.
